Lodi News-Sentinel

Scientists discover strange, new creature … in Florida, of course

- By Roger Simmons

ORLANDO, Fla. — It's as long as a snake, is spotted like a leopard, has two small arms with gills sticking out of its body and it lives in the swamps of Florida's panhandle. What is it?

It's a new creature that was discovered by scientists, who announced their findings last week. They say it's a type of legless salamander called a siren — and this new species is being officially called Siren reticulata, or the Reticulate­d Siren. Others have referred to it as a leopard eel, even though it's not really an eel.

Scientists say the Reticulate­d Siren is among the largest species discovered in the United States in the last century.

“In this study we use morphologi­cal and genetic evidence to describe a previously unrecogniz­ed species from southern Alabama and the Florida panhandle,” the scientists wrote in their paper, published in the journal Plos.

“We name this species the Reticulate­d Siren, Siren reticulata. Future studies will enable more precise phylogenet­ic informatio­n about S. reticulata and will almost surely reveal additional undescribe­d species within the family.”

NationalGe­ographic.com, which interviewe­d one of the authors of the scientific paper, said stories about this strange swamp creature have been passed around the Florida and Alabama area for years.

“It was basically this mythical beast,” said David A. Steen, who works at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center.

“What immediatel­y jumps out about the reticulate­d siren that makes it so different from currently-recognized species is its dark and reticulate­d (or net-like) pattern,” Steen told National Geographic. “It also seems as though they have a disproport­ionally-smaller head, as compared to other sirens.”

In the report for Plos, it was explained that while Steen was trapping turtles at Eglin Air Force Base in 2009, when he captured the first specimen of the newly discovered Reticulate­d Siren.

Despite efforts to try to find more specimens, the scientists reported, their efforts proved futile for five years. “However, on 8 June 2014, three more specimens were collected in a freshwater marsh adjacent to Lake Jackson in Walton County, Florida.”

The Reticulate­d Siren was so hard to find because it spends its entire life below the surface of the water, the scientists said.

 ?? COURTESY JOURNALS.PLOS.ORG ?? (A) A Siren reticulata paratype specimen captured in Okaloosa County, Fla. (B) Location of Siren reticulata captured in 2009 by D. Steen and M. Baragona. (C) The type locality of Siren reticulata, Walton County, Fla.
COURTESY JOURNALS.PLOS.ORG (A) A Siren reticulata paratype specimen captured in Okaloosa County, Fla. (B) Location of Siren reticulata captured in 2009 by D. Steen and M. Baragona. (C) The type locality of Siren reticulata, Walton County, Fla.

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